A little time with my friends

For the last 8 years or so a few friends and I have gotten away for the weekend for some creative and spiritual renewal.  The first weekend in October we take our scrapbooking stuff and crop as much as we can.  That is also general conference weekend so we have always made sure we can watch conference while we work.  It is a great combination; listening to the beautiful and talks and music while keeping our hands busy working.

We really have enjoyed the past two years going down to Colorado Springs to My Scrapbook Retreat.  They have a great facility with delicious meals, a big screen TV, and a fantastic workspace.  I especially enjoyed the hot tub for relaxing in after spending all day hunched over a table. :) We had planned on going there again, but just a couple of days before we were to leave, Jessica, the owner called to tell me that she had to cancel our retreat.  Her husband's father had very unexpectedly passed away and they had to travel for the funeral that weekend.  Of course, I told her to not worry about a thing and focus on her family, but it left us in somewhat of a lurch.

I immediately called Malinda because she was flying in from Idaho for the weekend.  She was super cool and said she would come regardless.  Then I sent out and email to all the other gals and let them know what had happened and to get their input on whether we should try to reschedule or find another place to go.  I started researching  where else we could possibly go -- thank heaven for the internet!!!!  After many hours online and many phone calls, I found a cabin for rent near Buena Vista, CO.  It was a little farther away and we would have to prepare our own meals, but it seemed to fit the bill.  I was so glad everyone was flexible!

We took off on Thursday afternoon and drove through the mountains.  It was so gorgeous, with hints of fall peeping through the trees!  We made plans to drive up to Silverthorne and stop at the outlet mall for some shopping and then getting some dinner before continuing on to the cabin.  We all had some great finds at the stores and dinner was yummy, if not rather slow.  We were all pretty sure that our waiter was high.  It was funny to watch.  We arrived to the cabin quite late in a downpour.  Thank heavens for GPS!

The cabin was beautiful and the area was so serene, right on the edge of the San Isabel National Forest.  Turns out that we actually liked doing our own meals.  It didn't feel like we had to get up at any specific time since we were all making our own breakfasts.  We ate together for dinner, but other than that, we just fended for ourselves.  Kind of nice to eat on our own schedule.  We watched plenty of movies and conference.  On Saturday afternoon Kris and I even went for a bike ride on a road through the forest.  It was beautiful with the snow capped peaks in the distance (although my rump was sore for a few days!  Before we left on Sunday afternoon, we made sure to take some pictures with the super fun gals that came.  We are already looking forward to next year!

I loved that Malinda was able to stay and extra day, so we were able go and do some shopping and then get a pedicure.  I got home just in time to teach a couple of lessons and then we took Malinda and the family for dinner at Cinzetti's before taking Malinda to the airport.  I was super sad to say goodbye to Malinda.  I love being with her so much and I was so glad that she was able to spend the weekend with us!